A tanker truck crashed and exploded on Sunrise Highway in Bellmore late Tuesday night, lighting the sky with a huge fireball that damaged homes and parked vehicles, and injuring two people, Nassau County police and eyewitnesses said. Videojournalist: Paul Mazza (Dec. 18, 2013)

Politi said he helped the injured trucker to safety and away from the flames. The tanker had just slammed into a 2013 Hyundai stopped at a traffic light on Sunrise Highway.

Limping from a leg injury with a gash on his head and still in dangerous proximity to the burning tanker, the 39-year-old trucker clung to the shoulders of Politi and a Nassau police officer as the two carried him to the center median of Sunrise Highway.

"He said his leg was hurting him," said Politi, who is a licensed medical doctor and occasionally still works shifts at Nassau University Medical Center. "I covered him with a blanket from my trunk and an ambulance was on the scene within seconds."

The driver of the Hyundai, a 51-year-old woman, had "bumps and bruises," Politi said.

Politi credited Engine 3 of the Bellmore Volunteer Fire Department, who he said "had three hand lines stretched and opened" and was spraying the nearby homes to prevent the fire from causing more damage.

The tanker was carrying 12,000 gallons of fuel when it rear-ended the Hyundai, police said. It then flipped onto its side and skidded eastbound on the highway toward Brevoort Place before crashing into the bay of a Harley-Davidson garage. Nearly 7,000 gallons of fuel gushed from the tanker and spilled onto Brevoort Place before igniting.

Police said they are still investigating the cause of the crash, but said it appears alcohol was not a factor, and no criminal charges are expected. Environmental factors, like ice, were also ruled out, police said.

Five homes near the crash scene nearly caught fire and plastic fences and siding melted from the heat, police said. Twelve parked vehicles were damaged.

Mary Matthews, 58, fled her home after hearing "this enormous explosion," she said Wednesday on her front lawn, as she surveyed the damage to her home.

Her cars -- a 1993 Buick LeSabre and a 2011 Dodge Caliber -- were blackened shells, destroyed by what she said was "a big ball of fire coming at us."